Last Goodbyes
by rachmarie150
Summary: What if Castle had been in the building with Ryan instead of Esposito in Under Fire? Would they make it out alive? How would Beckett handle herself knowing that her fiancé could be dead inside a burning building? AU fic for 6x11. *COMPLETE*
1. Prologue

**I saw a post on tumblr for someone to write an AU fic from 6x11 (Under Fire) about what would happen if it were Castle and Ryan inside the building instead of Esposito and Ryan. **

**Apparently I'm a masochist and enjoy making myself sob over this, so I am doing it! I'm going to make it run from chapter to chapter just like the episode, but some things will be changed, considering the fact that it's Castle with Ryan and not Esposito. Also, this will be more from Kate's point of view, making this story pretty emotional and quite angsty. **

**Oh, and by the way, I have not given up on Your Wish is My Command! I'm just working on a few chapters for it at the moment. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Castle, but God, I wish I did.**

**P.S. GOOD LUCK TO THE CAST OF CASTLE TONIGHT AT THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARDS! I REALLY HOPE THEY WIN ALL THE CATEGORIES THAT THEY'RE NOMINATED FOR!**

**Okay, enough about all this, on with the story... (aka grab some tissues)**

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><p>She can't cry. She won't cry. She has to be strong, not only for her but for Esposito. His partner is in that building.<p>

But God, so is hers.

Her _fiancé_ is in that building.

What if he's dead? What if he's already burnt to a crisp?

No, she can't think like that. Castle's a fighter, and so is Ryan. They're going to make it out of there alive.

Or so she hopes.

She feels the lone tear escape and run down her cheek as the shrill ring of her cell phone and it's vibration against her abdomen startles her out of her own mournful thoughts.

She pulls the device from her pocket and looks at the screen. "It's Jenny," she says with a sigh to Esposito, who is standing beside her.

"Why would she be calling you?" he asks.

"Maybe she's heard from them. Maybe she knows that they're safe," Beckett says with slightly too much enthusiasm, trying to reassure her pseudo-brother and most importantly, herself.

She answers on speakerphone with a simple, "Jenny?"

"Kate, oh thank God," the nine month pregnant woman says with a hint of worry in the tone of her voice. "Umm, have you heard from Kevin?" she asks anxiously.

Another tear falls down Kate's cheek as her heart shatters for herself and the woman she has come to love as a friend. "No, have you?" she forces out.

"No. I've been calling him to test our system and he's not answering. I'm freaking out a little bit, umm, do you have any idea where he is?"

Kate looks to Esposito, and he responds with a sympathetic look.

She has to tell Jenny that her husband, along with her own fiancé, are trapped in a burning building and she doesn't even know whether or not they are dead or alive. She turns to look at the building.

"Kate? Kate, are you there?" Jenny says, wondering if the connection had been lost.

"Yeah, yeah I'm here," Kate gulped as she turned back to Esposito.

"What's going on? Where's Kevin?"

"Jenny I need you to stay calm, okay? Something's happened," her voice broke as the tears freely fell.

Two of the most important people in her life were slowly slipping out of it, and she couldn't do anything about it. She just had to sit there and watch as the love of her life and her pseudo-brother were trapped inside a building engulfed in flames.

All of the tears that she had kept at bay finally broke free.

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><p><strong>TO BE CONTINUED. <strong>

**Review?(: Thank you all! **

**-Rachel **


	2. Chapter 1

**WOW! I was shocked at the amount of follows, favorites, and reviews I have gotten in the past day! You guys are the best! Thank you so much!**

**This chapter is literally what happened in the episode. I said this was going to happen, so yeah. We need the backstory to get to the other crazy parts later in the story! **

**Without further ado, here's chapter two! (hehe rhymes) I hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: ALL OF THE DIALOGUE IN THIS CHAPTER IS ANDREW MARLOWE'S, NOT MINE.**

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><p><em>12 HOURS EARLIER<em>

Castle, Beckett, and Ryan stepped into the disheveled and charred burned building. They carefully walked through the room from the entrance.

"A crime scene at a fire, I've never done one of these before!" Castle said excitedly to Ryan as he rubbed his hands together in excitement.

"After this, you might not want to," Ryan said as he looked at what once were the walls, stepping over debris and larger pieces of metal. "The building was being rehabbed and the place was supposed to be empty. I guess our victim didn't get that memo."

"Do we know who our victim is?" Beckett asked as she followed behind Castle and Ryan.

"Uh no-, " Ryan was interrupted by the ring of his phone. "Oh, oh oh oh oh my God, oh my God it's Jenny, it's go time," he said as he stopped and answered his phone spastically. "Hi Jenny, are you having contractions, are you-?" He was cut off by his wife on the other end of the line.

Castle and Beckett shared a smile behind Ryan's back while he listened to what his wife had to say. They were so excited for him, but they knew he was taking things a bit too enthusiastically.

"Oh, no, no it's good to double check if my phone's working, or, triple check. Okay, alright sweetie, talk to you soon." He ends the call with his pregnant wife and sighs. "False alarm."

"What is she, uh, two days past her due date?" Castle asks as they continue walking further into the building.

"Three, so it could happen at any minute. Can you believe it, me as a dad?" Ryan said.

"No Ryan, you're going to be great," Beckett responded as she shined her flashlight around the room, looking at the state of disarray the building was in.

"You guys pick a name?" Castle asked Ryan.

"No, we couldn't agree on one, so we're waiting to see if it's a boy or a girl and then decide."

"May I suggest, Cosmo," Castle said with a smirk.

"No you may not," Ryan replied quickly with a quirk of his eyebrow. "And rather than pick a name for my kid, you should plan a date for your wedding," Ryan said, gesturing between the couple.

"Plan a date for my wedding? I was planning on bringing her," Castle replied as he pointed to Beckett.

"Really? When is that? I might have plans," Beckett replied to her fiancé with a sassy look as she walked into another room of the building.

"Hey! I'm Mark Kimball, building safety, you guys really need to be in here?" a tall, bearded man in a hard hat said as he approached him, with a New York firefighter in tow.

"It's where our crime scene is," Beckett told him as she pointed her flashlight to the room where Lanie was with the corpse.

"Ah, well don't stay any longer than you have to. The fire did structural damage. I need to clear the building," Mark said.

"We should be in and out," Ryan reassured him.

"Okay."

"Thanks," Kate said as she followed Ryan into the room where Lanie was kneeling by the body, examining it.

"So, do we know who the victim is?" Beckett asked as they walked up to the completely charred body.

"Nope. Dude had a wallet, but it's burnt to a crisp," Ryan said. "Even if he was a dude, it's even hard to tell that.

"I see what you mean," Castle said to Ryan.

"Actually, he is a dude, which is about all I can tell you right now," Lanie said to the detectives and writer as she stood.

"Is that a bullet hole?" Kate asked as she looked at the victim's forehead.

"Probably a nine. So needless to say, this wasn't from natural causes," the medical examiner explained.

"Neither was the fire," an African American woman said as she stepped into the room. She was also adorned in a hard hat.

"This is Lieutenant Delia Burton, she's a fire investigator with FDNY. Detective Beckett, Mr. Castle," Ryan said as he introduced the professionals to each other.

"Nice to meet you. So, this was arson?" Kate asked her.

"Well, it's looking that way. I found miniscule traces of accelerant at the flash point."

"So the killer set the fire to cover up the murder?" Castle asked.

"Except there's no accelerant on the body. The fire's flash point is deep in the building. You know, normally when you're disposing of a body, you're going to make sure it burns," Delia explained.

"So maybe our victim surprised the arsonist," Beckett said.

"And the arsonist killed him, silencing him as a witness," Castle continued.

"That's how it looks to me," Delia said. "Then again, homicide's not my specialty."

"No, uh, but fire is. Would you mind keeping me in the loop in case you find anything else?" Beckett asked as she handed Delia her card.

"Sure. As soon as I know what happened, so will you," Delia said with a smile.

As she started to leave the room, the building rumbled and made other strange and somewhat dangerous noises. Ryan stood and they all looked up at the ceiling, expecting it to start to fall at any minute.

"Whoa, what was that?" Castle asked.

"The building. You guys should probably go," Delia said.

"Sounds good, see ya!" Castle said as he ran out of the room. The other four people in the room watched him leave and were amused by his childish retreat.

Beckett turned back to the others and sighed as she rolled her eyes. "I'm marrying… him," she whispered.

"Yeah," Ryan said.

"Yeah," she said back to herself. "Umm, why don't we just look into whoever owns this place, see if they know who might've been in here."

"Right," Ryan said as he prepared to leave and find the owner of the building.

Murder and arson? This was going to be a long, tough case. Little do they know…

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><p><strong>TO BE CONTINUED. <strong>

**Review?(: **


	3. Chapter 2

**My other fanfiction is finished, which means all of my focus is going to be on this now! Yaaay! Sorry to make everyone wait for so long.**

**I have had reviews asking when the AU part is going to start, and my answer is that it will start once Ryan and in this case, Castle enter the building. I believe that will be in about three chapters or so. **

**This one is short and just like the episode, but I need to put it in so we can get to the good stuff later! Enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: ALL OF THE DIALOGUE IN THIS CHAPTER IS ANDREW MARLOWE'S, NOT MINE.**

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><p>"I have no idea who he is. Wasn't nobody supposed to be in there on account of the renovation. Maybe the guy was a bum or a squander or something," the Italian man said with a shrug of his shoulders as he sat in an interview room.<p>

Castle and Beckett gave him a look.

"But hey, a human life, still a tragedy, right?" he said.

"Mr. Turino let's talk about why no one was there, not even a security guard. Wasn't your building basically abandoned after you stopped renovations three months ago?" Beckett asked with a wave of her finger.

"Due to a cash flow problem?" Castle jumped in with a quirk of his eyebrow.

"Who are you again?" Turino asked with a tone of disgust.

"Just someone who couldn't help but notice your bank required high levels of insurance on that building as a condition of granting you the loan," Castle replied.

"So?"

"So a total loss insurance claim would solve all of your cash flow problems," Beckett said.

"Right. The downside being, you'll go to prison for murder," Castle added.

"Are you kidding me? I wouldn't burn down my own building, okay? Somebody else must've done it."

"Tell me Mr. Turino, are you involved in organized crime?" Beckett asked.

"I take offence to that. Just because I'm Italian, I'm in the mob?" Turino responded angrily.

"No, I think you are in the mob because you are a known member of the Menaria crime family and you also have convictions in racketeering, fraud, assault-"

"Okay, okay," he cut her off. "I moved on. I'm out of the life now. It was my dream to rehab that building, and flip it, retire to Boca. Now that dream? It's up in smoke."

Castle and Beckett looked at each other. Beckett rolled her eyes at the pun. Up in smoke, it definitely was. Just like their investigation.

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><p>While Castle and Beckett were interviewing Mr. Turino, Delia was looking around in the building where the body was found. She was walking around one of the rooms, looking with her flashlight for clues as to why the arsonist had turned to homicide. The rubble and blood on the floor was in one specific spot. She knelt down and felt it with the tips of her fingers, and then she took out her pocket knife to slice through the singed carpet. She pulled the carpet back and found a red X on the floor. She was stunned. What could it be for? She had no idea, but it was definitely important.<p>

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><p><strong>TO BE CONTINUED. <strong>

**Review?(: **


	4. Chapter 3

**I'm sitting in AP Psychology class right now, bored out of my mind, so I guess it's time to update! (:**

**Disclaimer: ALL OF THE DIALOGUE IN THIS CHAPTER IS ANDREW MARLOWE'S, NOT MINE.**

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><p>"Yo Beckett," Esposito said as he hung up his phone and stood up from his desk to walk with her.<p>

"Yeah?" she replied.

"So Turino's alibi checks out. He was at the Pink Palace Gentlemen's club last night stuffing G-strings from eight PM to four AM," he said as he walked up to her desk.

"Yeah but that doesn't mean he's in the clear, I mean Turino wouldn't do this himself."

"Well I'll see if anyone's he's been hanging with has any connection to arson."

"Okay, I'll grab Castle; we'll see if Lanie's got anything new on our vic."

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><p>Castle and Beckett entered the morgue where Lanie was standing by the singed body on the slab.<p>

"Still no ID and he's not in any missing person's report," Lanie said as she put some files down from tests that she had done on the corpse.

"We get a match on the bullet?" Beckett asks.

"It's not in the system, but the cause of death was definitely a GSW to the head. No smoke in the lungs so he was already dead before the fire got going."

"Beats getting roasted alive," Castle commented.

"I'm right there with you," Lanie replied as Kate gave her fiancé an eye roll. "Also, he was healthy, muscular, his teeth were in good shape, so he probably wasn't homeless. Plus, he had great medical care."

"How can you tell?" Beckett asked.

"He had a fractured leg that was splinted with metal plates and screws. Quality work, too," Lanie said as she showed the couple the x-ray.

"Can the plate be traced?" Castle asked.

"I'm already on it."

"It wasn't the left leg. Anterior femur, midway down," they heard a voice from behind them. They turned to find Delia in the doorway, a bit choked up.

"That's right. How did you know?" Lanie asked.

"I know who he is," Delia responded with a sigh as she looked at the body. "He's a fire investigator named Blake McCann. He was my partner."

Beckett looked to Castle with a shocked look on her face. Now she knew why Delia was so shook up. The victim was her partner. Kate couldn't even imagine the hurt she must be going through. If she ever lost Castle, she didn't know what she'd do with herself.

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><p><strong>Do you sense some foreshadowing in those last few sentences?(; <strong>

**Review?(:**


	5. Chapter 4

**After this, there will only be one more episode-based chapter before this turns AU! Get excited folks, and hold on to your seats, because this is going to be a crazy, fun, angsty ride. I promise I won't kill you, but I'll try to do the best I can. (;**

**Disclaimer: ALL OF THE DIALOGUE IN THIS CHAPTER IS ANDREW MARLOWE'S, NOT MINE.**

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><p>"Okay, got it Lanie," Beckett said as she hung up the phone. "So dental records confirm that our victim is Blake McCann," she said as she came toward the table to sit down next to Castle and across from Delia. "I'm very sorry."<p>

"He was a good man. Most decent person I ever knew," Delia responded with a sad smile.

"Do you know of anyone in his life that would've wanted to hurt him?" Beckett asked.

"Just the person who left this," Delia said as she reached over to receive a picture of the red X from the floor of the crime scene. "I found it at the fire scene."

"What is it?" Beckett asked as she and Castle looked at the photo confusedly.

"This pattern is made by accelerant. From the staining pattern, probably benzoyl peroxide squeezed from a tube. Blake found the same pattern in ten other burned buildings."

"So it's a signature," Castle deducted.

"Of a serial arsonist. Blake has been hunting this guy for years. It's how he spent every spare minute. In fact, he had just taken some vacation days to work the case. When I found this symbol, I called him. He didn't call me back, I uh… I just had an awful feeling," Delia explained.

"Did he know who the arsonist is? Did he have any suspects?" Beckett asked.

"Not that he ever told me. He just called him The Phantom because he seemed to be able to slip in and out of buildings without people ever noticing."

"Until now maybe," Castle added.

"Well that's got to be it, right? I mean, Blake went in that building because he was after the guy, and that's who killed him."

"It's too soon to know, but it's a place to start. Now, we're going to need copies of his case files linked to the arsonist," Beckett said.

"He took a bunch of them home with him."

"I'll have detectives pick them up," Beckett said.

"The rest are at the office. I'll give them over to you."

"Great."

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><p>"So, I talked to Blake McCann's co-workers, his ex-wife, and if he's got any enemies, I am <em>not<em> finding them," Beckett said as she paced behind her desk, talking to her fiancé who was in his usual chair next to her desk.

"He messed with the phantom."

"Can you please not call him that? It just… it sounds silly."

"Sillier than The Arsonist, which starts with arse? At least with The Phantom, he's got some mystique."

"He doesn't deserve mystique, he's a murderer!"

"Yeah, but killing is not a part of his usual MO. Until now, all the buildings he torched were empty."

"Okay, alright so what else do they have in common?"

"Not much, all of the buildings were older. Some were residential, some were office buildings. There was two in Manhattan and the rest in Brooklyn and in Queens."

"Were they insured?"

"A couple of them, but not all of them, so it probably was not arson for hire."

"Which means he's doing this for himself. He's burning these buildings to satisfy an inner need, and like a serial killer, there's a reason why he chooses the buildings he does, there's a pattern or something."

"Oh!" Castle says as he looks at McCann's notes.

"What?" Beckett asks.

"Entry from three days ago, McCann wrote down a name. Adam Ferguson."

She looked at him proudly. They had caught a break.

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><p><strong>Review?(:<strong>


	6. Chapter 5

**PLEASE READ THIS AUTHOR'S NOTE. **

**Okay, so this chapter is semi-AU. Read it and you'll see why! Next chapter starts the real AU stuff!**

**Some people have been leaving reviews like "Why are you using the same dialogue from the episode" and blahblah. I'm doing that because this is still the episode, it's just that two characters (Castle and Esposito) are switched. And yes, as a result of this, especially in all the next chapters to come, some of the lines will still be the same and some will be completely different because of the fact that the character's roles have changed. **

**Anyway, thank you to all who have followed this story! The number grows everyday and it makes me really happy!(:**

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><p>Esposito and Ryan entered the victim's house, guns up and safety's off. They checked the house for any potential threats. It had obviously been ransacked.<p>

"Clear," Esposito said.

"Clear," Ryan echoed.

They looked around the living room and noticed the framed certificates and accomplishments on the wall. They also noticed the broken frames on the floor and the out-of-place and torn furniture and other items that adorned the room.

"I'd say someone besides us is interested in Blake McCann," Esposito said to his partner.

"Yeah… looks like this place was tossed after he was killed," Ryan replied as he put his gun back in its holster.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yeah, the arsonist shot him, then got worried McCann left a paper trail."

"He came here searching for any files or evidence that would point to him."

"Maybe our perp tossed the place because he couldn't find them."

"McCann had no reason to hide those files. It'd be out on a table, a desk, or a nightstand."

Ryan nodded in understanding, trying to think of what the perpetrator was thinking at the time.

"Wait. McCann's car. It wasn't in the driveway," Esposito said.

"Or in the garage," Ryan replied.

"He probably drove over to that building before he was killed. It could still be down there."

"Yeah, with those files in it."

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><p>"Here it is, Adam Ferguson," Beckett said as she pulled up his record on the computer. "And Blake McCann helped put him away on multiple arson counts. He got out of prison five years ago."<p>

"Which by wild coincidence is right about the same time those buildings started getting torched," Castle replied.

"Not only that, but check this out. Look at who Blake called on his cell the day before he was killed," Beckett said, showing her partner their vic's phone records.

Beckett and Castle were about to go get uniforms to bring Adam Ferguson in for an interrogation when Beckett's phone rang. It was Esposito.

"Beckett."

"Hey Beckett. McCann's place has been tossed, but none of the files on the arson cases are here. Also, his car isn't here, and we're thinking that maybe his car is at the burned building and the files are in his car. We were going to go over there now, but Gates just called me and said she wanted to talk to me about something."

"Ryan can take Castle with him to the building, and I'll have you do the interrogation of a possible suspect with me when you're done talking to Gates. Sound good?"

"Yeah, works for me. I'll be there in a bit."

Beckett hung up with Esposito and put her phone back on the desk.

"Where am I going with Ryan?" Castle asked.

"To the building to look for McCann's car. Is that okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, no problem."

"Thanks, babe," she said as she walked away to go talk to a uniform.

Ryan and Esposito arrived, and Castle went off with Ryan to the building. Esposito went in to talk to Gates and Beckett sat at her desk, waiting for the two uniforms to bring in Adam Ferguson.

"Everything okay?" Beckett asked a few minutes later as she walked up to Esposito's desk, where he was now sitting after his talk with the Captain.

"Yep, no big deal," he replied. Just then, the elevator dinged and the two uniforms stepped out with Adam Ferguson right in front of them.

"Perfect timing," Beckett said to herself.

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><p>"Yeah, Blake McCann called me," Ferguson said as he sat opposite Beckett and Esposito at the table in the interrogation room.<p>

"To talk about what?" Beckett asked.

"Just a chat between friends," Ferguson said as he shrugged.

"Where were you last night between nine and one AM, Mr. Ferguson?" Beckett said, cutting to the chase.

"Why?" he spat back.

"Because he was murdered, by an arsonist he was hunting."

"Well that's a real shame," Ferguson said with narrowed eyes.

"An arsonist not unlike yourself. He even wrote down your name right before he was killed," Esposito said.

"Not because I killed him. It must've been The Phantom. I don't know his real name."

"How do you know about him at all?" Esposito asked with an intimidating look.

"Blake told me. He called me, asked me to meet him in the village. He really wanted to catch this Phantom guy. He asked my help and I said I'd give it to him."

"Even though he put you in prison?" Esposito asked, disbelieving of the fact that this piece of scum would actually be called by a fire investigator to help on a case.

"Blake paid me for my time. Plus, he let me see some photos of the fires, so we both got something out of the deal," Ferguson said with a maniacal laugh.

Beckett swallowed. "And what other wisdom did you offer him?"

"Any idiot can slosh guys around and light a match. But this guy, he knew fire, knew how it spread. You see, buildings are just like people," Ferguson said, leaning in closer to Beckett, trying to captivate her attention. Esposito shifted in his chair, looking out for his sister. "There's a weak spot, a soft underbelly. He would find it, use it, unleash an inferno with barely any accelerant. That is an artist."

"So how did any of this help McCann?" Beckett asked.

"He gave me some tips. I told him he was looking for someone who cases buildings carefully; visits them a few times before he strikes."

"What else?" Beckett asked, holding a strong, straight face. She knew that since he was on a roll, he was going to keep talking if she asked and acted like she was interested.

"An artist like The Phantom, he wants to admire his work. It's not enough that he sets the fire; he needs to feel the heat. To listen to the music, the roar of the flames, the moans of the buildings as they give in. That's what he lives for. Which is why, with every fire he sets, he is there watching."

Beckett looked to Esposito as Ferguson smirked, thinking that he had tripped them up. He was wrong, because they had an idea about him and his story. They released Ferguson and made their way to Captain Gates' office.

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><p><strong>TO BE CONTINUED. <strong>

**Review?(: **

**Get excited, guys! **


	7. Chapter 6

**I'm back, yay! Sorry it took me forever to get this next chapter out! Life's been insanely busy and when I have free time, I haven't been in the mood to write. **

**But now I am, so you get a new chapter! Yaaay! (:**

**For all of you that want the AU stuff, this story is becoming more and more AU as the chapters go on! This one is the most AU so far! Enjoy! **

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><p>"What do you make of his story?" Gates asked as she, Beckett, and Esposito stood in her office.<p>

"The staff at the deli where he said he met with McCann remembers seeing them." Beckett replied.

"Who knows what they talked about though? McCann could've accused him of being the Phantom," Esposito added.

"Maybe he is the Phantom," Gates said with a quirk of her eyebrow.

"We don't have anything that links him to any of the arsons yet, so…" Beckett started.

"Dig into his alibi and associates; see if you can find anything solid," Gates cut her off.

"Okay," Beckett replied as they left Gates' office and went back to sit at their desks.

"One thing I can't stop thinking about is that Ferguson said that the arsonist watches his fires. He seemed pretty worked up about that. Maybe it is him," Esposito said to Beckett from his desk.

"I've got uniforms canvassing the fire scene and checking all of the security cameras near the scene to see if there was anyone in the shadows, hanging out," she replied. Her phone started to ring, so she pulled it out of her pocket to answer it. It was Castle, so she gestured to Esposito to come and listen to what information he and Ryan had.

"Hey," she said as she put the phone on speaker. Esposito rolled her eyes at her. All the sudden she gets all gushy now that she and Castle are engaged, so she responds with "hey" instead of her usual "Beckett" like she does to anyone else. They're disgusting.

"Hey, we found McCann's car. It was parked two blocks from the fire and we found something inside," Castle said.

"The arson files?" Beckett said, hoping she was right.

"Not exactly. They just seem to be just a few files that he put together himself. One of them is about the building that he got toasted in," Castle said as he and Ryan shuffled through the papers. Ryan gave him a look for the toasted comment, but Castle just shrugged his shoulders and continued.

Beckett smiled at her goofy fiancé, and Esposito again took notice, rolling his eyes. "What about the other one?" she asked.

Castle looked to Ryan who was holding the files, but the dad-to-be was too busy checking his phone for any calls from Jenny and to make sure his ringer was up all the way. Ryan looked up at Castle guiltily and he just smiled and grabbed the files from him. He opened the file and looked at what it said. "It's an old shoe factory in Brooklyn on Arcadia Lane. It's been empty for about five years or so."

"Maybe the files were on buildings that McCann thought were being targeted," Beckett said to Esposito.

"He was right about the one McCann got burned up in," Esposito replied.

"Okay listen babe. We believe-"

"Babe, really? Are you joking?" Esposito said with a look of disgust on his face.

"Oh, did I say that? Sorry, I guess it slipped out," Beckett said, her face reddening.

"You are such a sap," the Hispanic detective replied.

Her eyes immediately narrowed. "Shut up, I am not."

"You are too!"

"Guys? GUYS!" Castle yelled through the phone, quieting the two detectives. "Can we get on with it, please?"

"Right, sorry. We believe that the arsonist cases the buildings he burns, so check that factory and see if anyone suspicious is inside," Beckett said, giving Esposito a less-than-pleased look.

"Okay, we got it. Talk to you later."

Castle hung up the call, Ryan grabbed the files and they got in their car and drove to the address of the building on the case file. Ryan busted open the door and they both went inside, holding their flashlights high to look around the room.

"Ugh, look at this place. A fire would be an improvement," Castle commented.

"Yeah," Ryan agreed.

They rounded the corner of the room which led them down another dark hallway.

"It seems like there hasn't been anyone in here in years," Castle said. "It's creepy."

When Ryan continued walking alongside him but wasn't responding, Castle looked over to see him checking his phone again. "I'm sure your ringer is all the way up, Ryan. If Jenny was in labor, you'd know by now. I promise," he said as he patted the detective's back.

"I guess you're right," he said as he pocketed his phone again.

When they reached the end of the hallway, Castle said, "Alright, let's go back to the precinct. There's nothing in here to see."

"Whoa wait a minute," Ryan said. He pointed his flashlight at the chain holding a steel door closed. "An abandoned building with a brand new lock on its chain?" Ryan said.

Castle walked over to the chain to look at the lock, and Ryan grabbed his gun from its holster. Castle picked up a hard, heavy piece of steel and started to hit the lock, and after a few tries, it broke and fell off. He pulled the chain to lift the door and they both stepped inside the room slowly, Ryan first and Castle following behind.

"NYPD, anybody here?" Ryan yelled.

Ryan cleared the room and they took a look around. They both gasped at the equipment on the tables.

"What is all this?"

"Castle, these are blasting caps and accelerants."

"This isn't the arsonist's next target, it's his workshop!" Castle concluded.

All of the sudden, a loud, shrill alarm went off. They both startled and looked around to see what they could've set off.

"What alarm did we set off?" Castle yelled.

Ryan focused his flashlight on a countdown clock on the wall with only six seconds left.

"It's not an alarm! Get out, get out now!" Ryan yelled as they rushed to the door as quickly as they could.

But they were too late. They had only made it halfway out of the room when the windows caved, the explosives were set off, and the enormous fire started. Everything on the inside of the building exploded and the entire building was engulfed in flames.

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><p><strong>Review?(: <strong>

**Oh nooo! What's going to happennn? *laughs evilly* **


	8. Chapter 7

**HAPPY CASTLE MONDAY! Enjoy everyone! (:**

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><p>"So I checked the security cameras near the fire. They were disabled," Beckett said as she walked up to Esposito's desk.<p>

"Disabled how?" he asked as he was doing something on his computer.

"Someone used a can of spray paint, mounted it on a pole and blacked out the lenses of both cameras just minutes before the fire."

"Well then it had to have been the arsonist. Maybe someone saw him do it. I'll see if we can get some uniforms to canvass the area," Esposito said with a wave of his hand, never taking his eyes off of his computer.

"What are you looking for? And please don't tell me it's another one of those porn sites that Castle gave you the link to," Beckett asked as she rounded his desk to see what was on his screen.

"Not this time, actually. Given that everyone uploads everything to the internet these days I thought I might see if anyone else took a video of that fire. Look," Esposito said as he pulled up the video. "If the arsonist was watching the fire, maybe he's in the video."

Beckett leaned in to watch the video. "Can you turn up the sound?"

Esposito did as he was asked and they both watched it. Only one of the building's windows was open and after being focused on for a few seconds, smoke started to come out of it.

"That doesn't look right," Beckett said as she narrowed her eyes quizzically.

"Seriously, because that's a lot better quality than any of those security cams we had."

"No, I mean the building. That fire just started. The fire department's not even there. They're not even on their way; you can't hear the sirens."

"So how did the guy taking this video know there was a fire when no one else did?" Esposito said.

"And listen to that… he's not yelling for anyone to call 911. He's not saying anything at all."

"The camera is really steady, too. You thinking that-"

"Yep, I do. This isn't just footage of the fire; this was shot by the arsonist. We need to track down whoever posted that video."

Beckett and Esposito made their way to the tech room where Tory, their forensic tech girl, was looking over some of the security cam footage for them.

"Hey, can you try to track whoever posted this video?" Beckett asked her as she handed her a piece of paper with the video link on it.

"I can try," she said. She typed in the link and pulled it up. She worked her way around a few of the protection and privacy walls set up on the video. "It's not going to be that easy. Usually, there's a file embedded in the video on the camera, but it's been stripped out," the forensic tech said.

"Can you tell where it was first uploaded?" Esposito asked.

"Let me see," she said as she clicked and typed away on the keyboard. "Looks like the video got bounced around on the net from site to site, but this is where it started." She pulled up the website.

Beckett rolled her eyes. "Pyrolicious dot com, really?"

"Wow," Tory said. "Okay, a site that caters to fire fetishes."

"I didn't even know there was a fire fetish."

"People are freaky," Esposito commented.

"Yeah, obviously. So anyway, when did this video show up there?" Beckett asked.

"About an hour after the fire was put out."

"And who runs this site?" Beckett asked with a quirk of her eyebrow.

"It's registered to a Milo Pavlik."

"This guy got a record?" Esposito asked.

Tory pulled up his record in split seconds. "Oh yeah, he burned down his family house when he was nineteen."

"Where do we find this Milo Pavlik?" Beckett asked.

Tory pulled up the address for the detectives and Beckett punched it into the GPS on her phone. They grabbed their coats and headed off to find the creator of Pyrolicious.

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><p>"Milo Pavlik, NYPD, open up!" Beckett yelled as she knocked on the door.<p>

Milo opened the door and Beckett pushed her way inside with Esposito right behind her.

"Whoa! Hey, what are you doing?" Milo asked.

Beckett showed him a screenshot of the video that she had taken of the fire. "Where did this video come from?" she asked in her no-nonsense voice.

"Listen, nothing I do here is illegal! I simply provide fire enthusiasts with-" Milo said, intimidated.

"This fire was set by an arsonist," Beckett cut him off.

"Who's also a murderer," Esposito chimed in.

"Who shot this video? Was it you?" Beckett asked him, taking a step closer to him.

"No!" Milo replied quickly. "What? It wasn't me!"

"Then how did it get up on your site?" Beckett asked as Milo's phone chimed. He picked it up and looked at it.

"Sorry, it's a text."

"I don't care! How did it get up on your site?" she asked again.

"I have a drop box outside. People leave stuff. It was on a USB drive. It was quality material, so I uploaded it."

"Who dropped it off?" Esposito asked, not wanting to take any of this guy's crap.

"I don't know. I have no idea."

"That's very convenient," Beckett said sarcastically. "Now did this person provide any other material?"

"Oh yeah, he's a real eye, this one," Milo said with a slight smile. "He sent me a few choice items," he said as his phone chimed again.

"If he really was someone else, and he's submitting videos, then he visits the site," Esposito said to Beckett.

Beckett nodded as she turned back to Milo. "I'm going to need the names of all your members, along with site traffic over the last five years."

"I'm pretty sure you need a warrant for that," Milo said, trying to hold his own.

"Not if you agree to cooperate, which I highly encourage you to do," she said as his phone chimed again. He looked down to see who the text was from and she was getting slightly angry at the fact that he wasn't listening to her. "Hey! Who the hell keeps texting you?"

"It's a news alert. There's a three alarmed fire going in Brooklyn."

"Where in Brooklyn?" Esposito asked.

"Some factory on Arcadia Lane."

Beckett froze and turned her head toward Esposito. Her expression was one of worry and fear. He knew exactly what that meant. She ran out the door of Milo's apartment and he followed, both hoping to God that it didn't mean what they thought it meant. Beckett frantically drove them straight to the factory without a word. They pulled up to the building, she parked and they got out. Esposito ran and stood by her side as they watched the building burn. It was completely engulfed in flames.

Beckett's heart sank in her chest. Her breathing quickened and a tear slid down her cheek. She let out a choked sob and Esposito stood there with her, completely overwhelmed.

Castle and Ryan were in that building.

They were dead. Beckett just knew it. There's no possible way they could be alive in there.

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><p><strong>Review?(: <strong>

**Things are getting heated! (see what I did there?) **


	9. Chapter 8

**Oh, my dear readers, how I've missed you! I've been so insanely busy. I know that that is the excuse I always use, but it's only the truth! I hope you all have been having a wonderful day and I just wanted to thank you all again for sticking with me and this story! You guys really are the best! In honor of Castle-less Monday, here's Chapter 8!(: **

**(you'll notice that the Prologue is in this chapter)**

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><p><em>Castle and Ryan were in that building. <em>

_They were dead. Beckett just knew it. There's no possible way they could be alive in there. _

What is she thinking? She can't jump to conclusions like that. They were definitely _alive_. They had to be. Castle and Ryan had been in dangerous situations before and this is just another one of them. They're probably on their way out of the building right now. Running as fast as they can through the hallways and finding the nearest door to escape from the flames.

Beckett stood there, watching the flames build and engulf more of the unstable structure.

"They're still not answering. Not Ryan or Castle," Esposito said as he looked at the fearful expression on Beckett's face. Beckett nodded, not liking what she was just told. Esposito hit the "end call" button on his phone in frustration and fear after countless times of trying to contact Ryan and Castle.

"Detective, are you sure they were inside?" the chief fireman asked her as he strode up to she and Esposito.

"Yeah they were checking the building in connection with an arson homicide and they haven't called in yet. You need to alert your rescue teams," Beckett said in the strongest voice she could muster.

"Detective, the building's fully involved. I just had to pull out the interior tag teams. I can't send in a rescue company until it's more contained," he said as he reached into the truck to grab something, thinking the conversation had concluded.

"Wait, more contained?" she asked in disbelief as she pushed his arm back so he could look at her once again. "If my guys are in there, I need you to bring them out!" she said, noticing the emotion getting into her voice.

"If we could get in there I would, but there's been a partial collapse inside. I almost lost six of my guys. We'll do everything we can Detective, but this building is a fire storm, every floor! If your guys are in there, I'm sorry but they're probably gone," he replied back in a slightly agitated tone.

Beckett rolled her eyes at the inconceivable man. He was supposed to be helping people, not giving up on them!

_They're probably gone. _

_Gone. _

She couldn't tear her mind away from the chief's words.

They couldn't be gone. They were alive, goddamn it, they had to be! She and Castle were finally sealing the deal and he couldn't just leave her like this! He fought for her and she fought for him time and time again, so she knew he would get through this.

"Chief?" Beckett asked as he started to walk away. He heard her stern voice and turned back as he placed his hat on his head.

"The fire," she said as she gave a quick nod to the building, as if he wouldn't know what she was referring to. "What started it?"

"Shattered windows and structural damage indicate some kind of explosion," he said quickly as he turned around and walked away again.

Esposito shifted from foot to foot and looked at the ground in worry and fear for his partner's life as Kate took a step toward the building and stared at it, wondering how the hell she was going to get Castle out of there. She stared at the building in longing and sadness as her lip quivered.

Now is not the time for emotions, Kate. Get it together. You need to be strong for him. He _needs_ you to be strong for him right now. Even though you know he's being strong in there, you still need to be strong, too.

Esposito noticed the forlorn expression on Kate's face. "Maybe they're not inside the building," he said as he put a hand on her shoulder. He didn't believe a word he said, but he thought that she might at least.

"Ryan's car is here and they haven't called. Castle always answers my calls. And if he doesn't, he calls me back within minutes. They're inside," she said with a gulp and a blank stare. She was appreciative of Esposito for trying to make her feel better, but she really needed him to cut the crap and think practically. "I shouldn't have let them go alone, and God, I shouldn't have let Castle go in there with Ryan! I'm so stupid!"

"Hey, there's no way you would've known that this was going to happen. You are _not _stupid, Beckett. You're just worried and scared right now. This is the arsonist's fault, not yours," Esposito said.

She can't cry. She won't cry. She has to be strong, not only for her but for Esposito. His partner is in that building.

But God, so is hers.

Her _fiancé_ is in that building.

What if he's dead? What if he's already burnt to a crisp?

No, she can't think like that. Castle's a fighter, and so is Ryan. They're going to make it out of there alive.

Or so she hopes.

She feels the lone tear escape and run down her cheek as the shrill ring of her cell phone and it's vibration against her abdomen startles her out of her own mournful thoughts.

She pulls the device from her pocket and looks at the screen. "It's Jenny," she says with a sigh to Esposito, who is standing beside her.

"Why would she be calling you?" he asks.

"Maybe she's heard from them. Maybe she knows that they're safe," Beckett says with slightly too much enthusiasm, trying to reassure her pseudo-brother and most importantly, herself.

She answers on speakerphone with a simple, "Jenny?"

"Kate, oh thank God," the nine month pregnant woman says with a hint of worry in the tone of her voice. "Umm, have you heard from Kevin?" she asks anxiously.

Another tear falls down Kate's cheek as her heart shatters for herself and the woman she has come to love as a friend. "No, have you?" she forces out.

"No. I've been calling him to test our system and he's not answering. I'm freaking out a little bit, umm, do you have any idea where he is?"

Kate looks to Esposito, and he responds with a sympathetic look.

She has to tell Jenny that her husband, along with her own fiancé, are trapped in a burning building and she doesn't even know whether or not they are dead or alive. She turns to look at the building.

"Kate? Kate, are you there?" Jenny says, wondering if the connection had been lost.

"Yeah, yeah I'm here," Kate gulped as she turned back to Esposito.

"What's going on? Where's Kevin?"

"Jenny I need you to stay calm, okay? Something's happened," her voice broke as the tears freely fell.

Two of the most important people in her life were slowly slipping out of it, and she couldn't do anything about it. She just had to sit there and watch as the love of her life and her pseudo-brother were trapped inside a building engulfed in flames.

All of the tears that she had kept at bay finally broke free.

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><p><strong>TO BE CONTINUED. <strong>

**Review?(: **


	10. Chapter 9

**I am currently sitting in a hotel writing this on my iPad, which let me tell you, is HARD. Dedication, people. **

**Anywaaaay, here's chapter 9!(: **

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><p>As he came to, he smelled the smoke, felt the heat, and heard the crackle and rumble of the building he was trapped in. All he tasted was ash and debris and when he opened his eyes, he saw the destruction around him. His eyes bulged as he looked up and saw the huge hole in what was the ceiling and the flames that completely engulfed the top floors. He moved to look around and remembered what had happened.<p>

"Ryan," he rasped through his dry throat. "Ryan!" he yelled in the loudest voice he could.

"Cas," he heard, along with raspy coughs. "Cas-tle."

Castle saw Ryan's arm waving for him. He stood up immediately and ran over to help the detective. Castle didn't even notice the severe, sharp pain in his head; he only wanted to help his friend. Castle grabbed Ryan by the arm and pulled him up. Ryan grunted in pain and leaned on Castle for support.

"Whoa, you look _horrible_," Castle said in astonishment. Ryan's pant legs were all ripped and torn and he was dirty and full of rubble. He had a slight limp in his walk as well. He leaned on Castle for support, as it seemed that his left leg was in real pain.

"Oh my _God_ Castle, your head!" Ryan yelled when he looked at the writer.

"What about it?" Castle yelled as his hand immediately went to his head. He felt the warm, gooey substance. He brought his hand down and saw the blood cover his fingertips. That's when he noticed the severe pain in his head.

"Dude, are you okay?" Ryan asked as he stepped closer to have a better look at the wound.

"My head really hurts," he said as he took a step backward.

"Whoa, here, sit down," Ryan said. He helped Castle to sit on a large cement pipe that had fallen and then he grabbed Castle's jacket and took it off him. There was a rip in the sleeve, so Ryan ripped it the rest of the way and tied the ripped sleeve around Castle's head, applying pressure to the large, open wound.

"Is it really that bad?" Castle asked, placing his hand over the makeshift bandage.

"Yeah. We really need to get you out of here so we can get it checked out."

"Yeah um, about that," Castle said as he looked around the room with a glint of fear in his eyes. "How the hell are we going to get out of here?"

"I don't know dude, but we need to find a way," Ryan said. "My wife is going to go into labor at any moment and I need to be there."

_Oh God, Kate. _

Castle hadn't even thought about his love. He wished he could be out there, pulling her close and whispering loving words to her. She was probably so worried about him. God, he missed her. He needed to get out, and fast, because he needed her, probably more than she needed him right now.

God, his head _hurts_.

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><p>"They're smart, Kate. They've found the safest place inside that building to hide," Esposito said as he looked at his pseudo-sister comfortingly.<p>

"Yeah, but for how long?" she said through tear-filled eyes and a choked sob.

Esposito just stared at the building, not able to be sure of any answer that he would give Kate.

"The two folders in McCann's car; he knew that this building was next. But how?" Beckett mumbled to herself.

"He must've figured out the arsonist's plan," Esposito said, hearing her.

"Which means there's a pattern," Beckett replied with narrowed eyes and lines on her forehead that indicated her train of thought. "And if he figured it out, then so can we."

"Move back! Everybody back! Move back!" the fire chief yelled as he flailed his arms wildly.

"What's going on?" Beckett said with a tone of worry as she ran up to the fire chief with Esposito in tow.

"This building's gone. We have to move into defensive attack. Other structures are in danger."

"You can't just give up! One of the best detectives in the NYPD and my _fiancé_ are in there! You have to get them out!" she yelled frantically as she felt the tears fall faster. "I _know_ they're alive in there, Chief! You have to save them!"

"Our teams just went through the other buildings and they're tinderboxes," Mark Kimball said as he walked over to the detectives. "If we don't hold the line, we can lose the whole block."

"Kate! Javi!" Beckett whipped around to see Lanie running up to her. Beckett's face dropped.

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><p><strong>TO BE CONTINUED. <strong>

**Review?(: **


	11. Chapter 10

**Hello everyone! Sorry it has been a while since I last updated! I was at the State Speech Competition on Saturday and my partner and I got seventh place out of forty-five participants! We are so ecstatic! Then, last night I was at Lorde's concert! She was absolutely amazing! I'm still so blown away!**

**Anyway, enough about me. Back to the story, eh? Don't cry too much! (;**

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><p>"How are we going to get out of here?" Castle mumbled to himself as he looked around at the flames all around them. He suddenly got an idea, so he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, but sighed when he found the front screen shattered.<p>

"God damn it, another phone? How many replacement phones have I already gotten this year?" he mumbled to himself angrily. "Ryan, do you have your phone?"

"Good idea!" Ryan yelled. He pulled his phone out of the inside pocket of his suit jacket, but sighed when it read NO SERVICE. He held it up and walked around to see if he could get any bars, but he had no luck. Judging by the huge hole in the ceiling and the multiple ceilings above them, it looked like they were in a basement anyway.

"This building is huge. The fire department has to be out there, trying to look for us, right?" Castle said with a hint of hope.

"Yeah, definitely. They just need to know that we're down here."

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><p>"HEY! SOMEBODY! IS ANYONE OUT THERE? HELP US!" Castle yelled as loudly as he could.<p>

"HELP! ANYBODY HEAR US? DOWN HERE! HELP!" Ryan yelled as he cupped his hands over his mouth to make the sound even louder.

After minutes of yelling, the boys gave up.

"It's no use. The fire's too loud. They can't hear us," Ryan said.

Castle sighed and stumbled to sit when the wound on his head started to pulsate rapidly.

"You okay Castle?" Ryan said, worried.

"Y-yeah, I'll be fine," he said, holding his head in his hands. "Should we try yelling again?"

"No, it's not worth it. No one can hear us and we should save our strength," Ryan said as he took his tie off and unbuttoned the top few buttons on his shirt.

"There's only so much time before the fire sucks all the oxygen in the room," Castle said.

"There's got to be another way out of here; some other way to let them know we're down here," Ryan stated as he looked around.

"How?" Castle said, panting.

"I don't know. Something."

"Yeah well, unless you have an oxygen tank, a pair of wings, and a fireman's suit, we're never going to make it out of here alive," Castle said as his head throbbed.

"What happened to you, Mr. Optimistic? Since when are you all Negative Nelly?"

"Since I realized that we are in a burning building that is going to collapse any minute. But Ryan, we have to make it out of here. I have a woman out there who I love more than anything in the world, man," Castle said as he grabbed Ryan's sleeve. "We're supposed to be getting married, Ryan, and I need to make it out of here for that! Kate's already been through so much and I won't let her down again," he said in desperation.

"Hey, we'll make it out, okay Castle? We can do this," Ryan said, feeling sympathy for his friend. "I don't know how, but we're going to make it out of here, okay?"

Ryan looked around, and when he saw the black object catch his eye, a slight feeling of hope erupted in him.

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><p><em>"Kate! Javi!" Beckett whipped around to see Lanie running up to her. Beckett's face dropped.<em>

Behind Lanie was a very pregnant and uncomfortable-looking Jenny.

"She was at the police barricades," Lanie said, gesturing to Jenny.

"Jenny, you shouldn't be here," Beckett said with a look of empathy in her eyes.

"The hell I shouldn't! My husband's in there!" Jenny fired back. "Oh God!" she said as her face scrunched in pain and she placed her hand on her rounded stomach.

"She's having contractions and they're only five minutes apart. She's in labor," Lanie stated with a slight tone of panic. "Jenny, we need to get you to the hospital."

"Medic! Over here, this woman's in labor," Beckett yelled, gesturing to Jenny.

"No, I'm not leaving! Not without Kevin!" Jenny cried, tears falling down her cheek.

"Jenny, there's nothing you can do here," Beckett said, trying to keep her Detective face on rather than her friend and fiancée face.

"He's inside, Kate! And if he doesn't make it out, if this is it, I need to be here. You understand, don't you?" she said as she grabbed Beckett's hand, taking a step closer to her friend. "I know Castle's in there too, and I know how much you love him. Hell, you two are about to get married. Kate please, just let me stay here. I want them out of there as badly as you do. I want to be here for the love and support. Please, Kate. _Please._"

A lone tear fell down Beckett's cheek. "Okay, but at least go inside an ambulance with Lanie so you can lie down and make sure everything's okay, alright? I promise you we are doing everything we can to get them out."

"I know you are, Kate. Thank you, really," Jenny said as she gave Beckett's hand a squeeze and let Lanie pull her to one of the ambulances on the scene.

"I can't believe this is happening. This is like some kind of a dream. I just keep waiting to wake up but it's like I can't do anything. It's like there's nothing we can do," Beckett cried as she put her head in her hands.

"We just have to be there for them, Kate. They know we're out here doing everything we can to make sure they make it back to us alive," Esposito said as he pulled her in for a hug. She wrapped her arms around her pseudo-brother and squeezed him tightly, crying into his shoulder.

He had seen Beckett shook up and rattled before, but never like this. This is the most emotional he has ever seen her, and it made the fire in him become a little bit brighter. They had to get them out, because if Beckett lost Castle, she would never survive. She had already lost her mother and had remarkably recovered from that, granted, with quite a few battle scars from bullets and hanging from roofs, but she was stronger than ever now that she has Castle, and he would not let him be taken from her, too.

When Esposito released Beckett from his embrace, the shrill ring of her phone broke him from his thoughts.

"Beckett," she said with all the strength that she could muster.

She heard static and crackling on the other end of the line, but no voices.

"Hello?" she said into the receiver.

"Beckett? Beckett, can you hear me? Beckett?"

"Ryan?" she said with a hint of hope in her voice. "Ryan, is that you?"

"Yeah it's me Beckett, listen uh… the building that we went into, it was the next arson target, it was his lair! He rigged it to blow and now we're trapped inside. The whole place is in flames," Ryan frantically yelled into the phone.

"Yes, I know Ryan, we're right outside. We've got the whole fire department here. We thought- God, we thought you guys were dead," Beckett said into the phone as the tears instantly started falling for what felt like the hundredth time that day. Just hearing her friend's voice and knowing that her fiancé was with him, _alive_, was one of the most relieving feelings she had ever felt.

"We will be soon if we don't get some help!" Castle yelled from a distance.

"Babe," Beckett whispered as she heard his voice. "We have a blueprint out here; we'll try to figure something out. Stay on the line!"

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><p>"Okay, so exactly where in the building are you?" the fire chief said as he and Beckett unrolled the blueprint.<p>

"Some kind of sub-basement mechanical room. We're about twenty feet down from the main floor, and there aren't any windows or doors," Ryan said into the phone.

"This doesn't make any sense," the fire chief said.

"Why?" Beckett asked, worried to hear what could potentially be another obstacle for them to have to overcome.

"According to these plans, this building has a slab foundation. There is no basement area."

"Well we are definitely in a basement. There must be something wrong with the plans!" Castle said again from a distance.

Just as Beckett suspected. Another obstacle.

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><p><strong>TO BE CONTINUED. <strong>

**Review?(:**


	12. Chapter 11

**I sobbed while writing this, so, prepare yourself. Grab the tissues, my dear readers. **

**P.S. LONGEST CHAPTER YET WOOHOO**

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><p>"They're alive?" Gates let out a relieved sigh as she heard Esposito utter the words.<p>

"Yep, but they're in a basement and for some reason, the basement isn't on the blueprint of the building. The fire crews can't get to them. We need to find another way for them to get out," the Hispanic detective said.

"What makes you think there even is another way out?"

"The arsonist set the explosives to go off to destroy all evidence that he had, but what if someone discovered him while he was still in the building?"

"He'd need another way out," Gates answered.

"Exactly. He wouldn't blow himself up. I think he altered the blueprints so the basement purposely wasn't on them."

"Okay, but what makes you think that?"

"When we talked to Ryan on the phone, he said the arsonist's workspace was right next to an open air shaft. It ran all the way down to the basement.

"So you think it's an escape route?"

"If cops were to raid the building and they were covering the front and back, where would he go?"

"To the one room that isn't on the blueprint!" Gates said with a smirk of possible victory.

"Exactly. Then, he'd blow the place and everyone would think he died. It's the best way to disappear. But, the only way it works is if there's another way out of the room, and the only person who knows that is the arsonist himself."

"Find him," Gates said sternly.

"Sir?" Tori said as she peeked her head inside the Captain's door. "I have something you need to see."

"Esposito, I have to go. Keep me updated."

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><p>"I went back through the Pyrolicious website and found that six videos are contributed to our arsonist. Each was uploaded to the site shortly after the building was burned. But, the interesting thing I found was that one member logged in and viewed each of these videos just minutes after they were posted, and only these videos," Tori explained.<p>

"That's him. He's checking out his work. What's his name?" Gates said.

"I don't have his real name, just a username. firebug447."

"I'll call in the guy who runs the website and see what he knows," Gates said as she strode out of the tech room to make the call.

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><p>Gates had gotten some information from Pavlik, but he didn't help a whole lot. He told Gates that he didn't know the arsonist's real name because he never paid for his membership on the site with a credit card. He said that sometimes they would instant message, but the arsonist was careful and never said anything relating to his personal information. The one thing that he did say about the arsonist was something that he had said before. "He couldn't deal with the suffering. Sick and dying buildings need to burn and be put out of their misery."<p>

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><p>"Are you sure you don't see another way out?" Beckett asked Ryan as she watched the firemen douse the building with streams of water, which seemed to be doing nothing.<p>

"If there is, it's covered by debris. Any idea where that other way out is?"

"Espo's on the phone with the building department; he's trying to get ahold of the original blueprints."

"We're just assuming there's a way out. We're g-giving the guy m-more credit than h-he deserves," Castle said as he sunk down against one of the walls, holding his head and letting his eyelids droop.

Ryan looked toward him and sighed. "We're both getting sleepy. The carbon monoxide's building up," he panted.

"Ryan you listen to me. You two need to hang on, okay? They're coming for you."

"I appreciate the pep talk, but we both know that the fire's too hot and there's no way we're going to make it out of here."

"No, Ryan _please_, I-"

"Beckett," he said, cutting her off. "We're going to lose the phone soon so, there's something I need you to do."

* * *

><p>Jenny was groaning in pain and breathing heavily as Lanie held her hand, talking her through her contractions.<p>

Beckett walked up to the ajar doors of the ambulance. "Jenny," she said with no emotion as she held her phone out to the woman.

"What is it?" she asked.

"It's him."

"It's Kevin?" she sat up as best as she could and snatched the phone from the detective. "Is it you? It's really you?" she said into the phone as she panted in pain.

"Yeah, yeah it's me beautiful," Ryan said into the phone as the tears fell down his face. As soon as he really realized that this would be his last few moments with his wife, he started to get emotional.

"Where are you? The baby's coming," Jenny said, trying to be hopeful.

"I'm inside," Ryan said in a raspy voice as he held back a sob.

"Inside…?" Jenny asked as she looked out the small side mirror of the ambulance to see the engulfed building. In this moment, Lanie looked to Esposito with questioning eyes, and he looked back at her and simply shook his head.

An unexpected, choked sob came from Beckett and Lanie walked over and stepped out of the ambulance to wrap her arms around her crying best friend.

"I'm sorry; I know I promised but… I'm not going to be there," Ryan said to his wife.

"Don't say that. _Please _don't say that!" Jenny said as her eyes became watery.

"I'm sorry," Ryan choked out.

Jenny cried out in pain and took in a deep breath as she fought through another contraction, and her tears started to fall.

"I love you more than anything. Remember that. Always remember that."

"Kevin, _please_. Don't leave me," Jenny cried.

"Oh, I-I don't want to." Ryan chuckled as he sniffled and wiped the tears from his face.

"We need a name," Jenny panted, "for the baby. We need to do that together."

"If it's a boy, Javier."

"And if it's a girl?"

"Sarah Grace, after your grandmother. Now, I need to give the phone to Castle because he needs to talk to Beckett before we lose the connection."

"I love you so much Kevin," Jenny cried.

"I love you too baby, so much."

Jenny threw the phone down on the bed and buried her face in her hands as she cried. Lanie released Beckett from her embrace and grabbed the phone for her, holding it to her ear. On the other side of the line, Kevin got up and walked over to Castle. He handed him the phone and patted his back before going back to where he was sitting while he had his last chat with his wife.

"Hello?" Castle rasped into the phone.

"Rick," Beckett choked out.

"Hey," he cried as he heard the emotion and angst in her voice.

"Hey babe," she cried. "I love you so much Castle. God, you mean the world to me. You're my everything and I don't know what I'm going to do without you. You're the only person in my life that I've ever given my whole heart to and loved more than anything. Before I met you, I didn't believe in love and magic, but now that you're in my life, you've proven that all of those things are real and that I really can be happy. _You_ are the one that makes me so happy and once you're gone, my life will be over. I thought I had suffered all the heartbreak I possibly could when my mom died and my dad started drinking but God Castle, this is so much worse," she cried, rambling into the phone quickly.

"Kate, please don't do this, I can't-"

"All you did was annoy the hell out of me when you first came to the precinct and I thought I was going to never be able to tolerate you, but I learned to befriend you, like you, and now I love you with all of my heart, Rick. Knowing that you love me and having the feeling of loving you back is the most amazing thing. Every moment I've shared with you is a moment I'll never forget. Even in the worst of times, we learned to get through the issues together. Everything was so perfect now that I had you and we were getting married. One day we could have a family and make this whole new life together, but now that you won't be here, I don't know what I'm going to do without you. You're my one and done and I'll never be able to come back from this. When I lose you, I'll also lose myself, Rick. I'll never recover. I love you so much Rick and _God_, I'm so _sorry_ that this is happening!"

"Kate, you have nothing to be sorry for," Castle cried. You are the most amazing woman I have ever been fortunate enough to have in my life and being with you for the last five years has been the five most amazing years of my life. I love you more than anything on this earth and I need you to know that that will never change, even after I'm gone. Go out there and continue being you after I'm gone, Kate, please. Don't fall into depression and make yourself sick with sadness. Do what makes you happy, because when you're happy, I'm happy. Now, I'll be with you forever. I love you so much, Kate, alwa-"

"Rick? _Rick?_" Kate yelled into the phone as the static covered his words, and then silence took over.

"No!" Beckett yelled as she threw her phone to the ground and crumbled to the ground with it. She sobbed as she held her face in her hands. Esposito and Lanie helped her up and sat her in the ambulance, where she held Jenny's hands and cried with her as they both mourned the losses of their loved ones.

The loved ones that they'd never get back.

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><p><strong>TO BE CONTINUED. <strong>

**Review?(: **


	13. Chapter 12

**Well, I woke up to a lot of reviews from people saying they sobbed and needed the next chapter as soon as possible, so I went right to work and got this out for you! As an angst fic writer, I loved reading those reviews. You guys are great! **

**There's going to be at least five chapters of this fic left, but I'm not exactly sure how many more after that. This fic is wrapping up, and I actually just figured out last night how I'm going to end this. Grab the tissues, guys, because the angst is far from over.**

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><p>Castle slammed the phone back on the cradle and threw it down as he wiped the tears from his face. Leaving Kate is breaking both of their hearts. He can't do this to her. He and Ryan had to make it out. He looked over to his friend and saw him holding his head in his hands, shaking his head.<p>

"Really, Javier?" Castle slurred as he held his head. "That kid is going to be the whitest Javier on the planet."

"Hey, would you shut it? You're really going to bust on me now for being sentimental?"

"Figured it was my last chance," Castle said with a chuckle.

Ryan chuckled back. "No, no, no. We're getting out of here. There's a way out and we're going to find it. I'm not leaving Jenny. I'm not leaving my baby without a Dad, alright?" he said as he looked to Castle, but no response came from the writer. "Hey, Castle?" he said. "Castle?" he said a bit louder as he rushed over to him and knelt down by his limp body. "No, no! Don't you dare fall asleep on me, Castle! You can't die now, c'mon Castle! Castle!" he yelled as he shook the writer, but still, no response. Ryan's emotions shattered and his head fell to Castle's shoulder. He cried, knowing that this was the end and there was no escape.

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><p>Jenny groaned in pain as the contractions were getting worse. Lanie held her hand and kept talking her through them, but she was broken. "I don't want to do this, Lanie. Not without him," she cried.<p>

Lanie squeezed her hand a bit tighter. "I know, baby, I know. I'm here. The contractions are two minutes apart. It's coming," she said as she checked her watch under her gloved wrist. As Jenny cried, Lanie coached her through as she said, "We're here together, okay?"

Jenny yelped in the worst pain she had ever experienced as she nodded. Beckett stood against the side of the ambulance, hearing Jenny yell and thinking about the loss of her own fiancé. She had just heard his voice, so he was alive. They could still make it out of there alive. She wiped the tears from her face and took a few deep breaths as she tried to put her game face back on. She needed to solve this case and get her boys back.

"Beckett," Esposito's voice called.

She looked to him and saw that he was being followed by two distraught red heads.

"Katherine, what the hell is going on?" Martha said in panic.

"Where's my dad?" Alexis asked as tears streamed down her face.

Kate sighed as she ran a hand through her hair. "He's in there," she choked out as she pointed at the building.

"What?" they both yelled simultaneously.

"He went with Ryan to follow up on a lead and we think that the arsonist in our investigation rigged the building to explode to destroy all of the evidence. So, as soon as Castle and Ryan went inside, it blew, and they're still in there."

"Are they dead?" Alexis asked, fearing the worst.

"I just talked to both of them on the phone. They're both alive, for now, but they don't have much time left. The carbon monoxide in the building is starting to build up."

"Can we talk to him?" Martha asked, extremely concerned.

"We lost the connection with the phone they had inside, as I was talking to him," Beckett said as a tear slid down her face. She wiped it away quickly, trying to be strong for her family.

"Detective," Delia called as she walked toward her.

"Esposito, take them over to the ambulance and have them sit with Jenny and Lanie. I'll be right back, okay?" she said to her family. She gave each of them a hug and then strode over to talk to the fire investigator.

"What's up?"

"We may have caught a break," she said. Beckett's eyes lit up. "According to Mylo Pavlik, our arsonist picked his targets because the buildings were sick and dying and needed to be put out of their misery. So, I went back through the files and all of the building inspector reports. He was right. Each of the buildings had issues, like structural defects or wiring problems."

"So that means he didn't just case the buildings; he spent time inside."

"I think that's what Blake discovered, how he got onto this place. Do you have the files that Ryan and Castle found?"

Beckett quickly grabbed them from the table she had set up with their evidence and notes on the case.

"The building inspection reports; who signed them?" Delia asked.

"Umm," Beckett said as she flipped through the papers in the files. "Mark Kimball."

Delia sighed. "All of these files, each one, they have one thing in common. The building inspector was Mark Kimball."

"That's how he got inside the buildings to operate without being seen. It was his job. Which means he had access to the building department. That's how he was able to change the building plans without anyone knowing." Beckett rushed over to the computer and typed Kimball's name into the database.

"Oh God," Beckett said as she looked at where his GPS tracked him. "He's here."

Beckett and Delia rushed to the side of the building, where they found Kimball taking a video of the burning building.

"Kimball, don't move," Beckett yelled as she pointed her gun straight at him.

He looked around and tried to make a run for it, but was stuck when Delia was on the other side with her gun cocked as well.

"The basement," Beckett stated. "Is there a way out?" she said as she moved toward him.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said nonchalantly.

Beckett grabbed his jacket and pushed him backwards roughly, slamming him against the car, still holding her gun in her other hand. "Is there a way out of the basement?" she asked again through gritted teeth. She grabbed his chin so he looked directly at her. "My friend and my fiancé are in there, and if they die, I will make sure you die a slow and painful death, too. What's it going to be, huh? I will rob you of everything you have if you don't tell me if there's another way out. I cannot lose my friend and I cannot lose my fiancé, you hear me, you ruthless son of a bitch? Now, I'm going to ask you one more goddamn time. Is there another way out of the basement?"

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><p>Their bodies were laying in the rubble and the ash, lifeless and pale. They were no longer breathing.<p>

They were dead.

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><p><strong>TO BE CONTINUED. <strong>

**Review?(: **


	14. Chapter 13

**Getting death threats from everyone is go fun, lol! You guys are great, really. Hugs to you all!**

**I really don't know what to think about this chapter, considering I quickly wrote it while on the road with my mom and I didn't want her to know what I was writing, so... anyway, here you go! **

**There are two chapters after this one and than an epilogue, to technically wrap the whole story up in seventeen chapters. Enjoy this one! **

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><p>The two men from the fire rescue team ran through the part of the basement that wasn't engulfed in flames. One of them ran while rolling a gurney, in case one of the men inside needed to be wheeled out. They came to an interior wall that was made of clay. The firemen kicked at it until it broke through, and they sighed in relief as they saw the two bodies, but were highly alarmed when they reached for them and touched them, and neither of them moved.<p>

One of their eyes started to flutter. "Wha- what's going on?" he rasped. He looked up to see the flames and everything came rushing back to him as he had remembered where he was. He saw the fireman above him and he sat up quickly, but the sudden motion was a bit too much for his brain to handle. He swayed as the world was a bit blurry and he was extremely overheated. The fireman steadied him and helped him up. He walked him over to a wall to lean against as he went over to help the other fireman.

The other fireman was still working to help the other lifeless body. He tried everything, but nothing was working. He didn't notice a rise and fall of the man's chest. The two firemen picked up the body and put it on the gurney. The firemen, the one injured man, and the one dead man on the stretcher left the room and headed out the same way that they had come in.

"Rescue 7 status," the fire chief said into his walkie-talkie, which connected with one of the firemen inside. The only response he received was static. When Beckett heard the constant static, she immediately thought the worst. She let out a shaky sigh as Esposito put an arm around her shoulders to comfort her.

"Rescue 7, do you have them?" the fire chief said again with a bit more impatience in his tone. "Rescue 7, are they alive?"

Beckett stared off into the flames longingly, just hoping to see her fiancé step out of the flamed and into her arms.

"There!" Esposito said as he pointed to the figures coming into view.

She saw three people, two distinctly were firemen. Where was the other?

Where was…

_Oh no. _

She ran as fast as her legs would take her to the stretcher.

"Castle?" she cried as she looked at the lifeless form of her fiancé. "Rick, no!" she cried as she fell over his body, burying her face in his chest.

"I'm sorry Detective, but I think he's gone," one of the men from the rescue team said.

One of the EMT's from the standby ambulances ran to Castle's side, along with Martha and Alexis. The two women helped Kate up and held her as the EMT examined Castle's body. Lanie ran up and helped him, checking for the usual signs of death. Her eyes widened when she found something unusual.

"Get him in an ambulance, now!" Lanie said.

"What's going on?" Kate yelled to her best friend.

"I'll tell you on the way to the hospital," Lanie yelled as Beckett, Martha, and Alexis all ran after her.

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><p>"Where's Jenny?" Ryan asked Esposito, as he helped to keep him upright.<p>

Esposito led him to the ambulance where Jenny was, and they heard faint cries of an infant. Ryan started to limp as fast as he could and jumped right into the ambulance with what little strength he had left, propelled by the fact that he could hear his child's cries.

"Kevin! You're alive!" Jenny cried as soon as she saw her face. Her eyes were bloodshot from constant crying and her voice was raspy from the screams of pain she had encountered.

Ryan climbed over to her and kissed her fiercely. She wrapped her arm around his neck and let the love and passion hold them in the moment.

"You're both beautiful," he cried as he stared at his wife, then at the tiny bundle of joy in her arms.

"Kevin. I'd like you to meet Sarah Grace," she smiled.

He looked back at her and smiled. He wrapped his fingers around hers and let the happiness of him being alive and their new baby being born take them away from the rest of the terrible moments of the day.

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><p><strong>(I know, I actually didn't leave you with a terrible cliffhanger this time! *gasp*)<strong>

**TO BE CONTINUED. **

**Review?(: **


	15. Chapter 14

**I swear, my muse is so close to killing me! She is sick of the angst that I am putting you all through, and from the reviews, so are all of you! Awh, you guys are just the sweetest! (;**

**This chapter isn't as bad, I promise! (maybe)**

**Anywaaaaay, here you go! Toodles! (:**

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><p>Beckett held Castle's limp hand as Lanie and the EMT worked together to try to jumpstart Castle's heart. They hooked up a bunch of wires to him and started him on multiple IV's, along with putting an oxygen mask over his face. Lanie had originally told Martha and Alexis to come with them in the ambulance, but it had gotten too cramped, so they decided to meet them at the hospital.<p>

"Can someone tell me what the hell is going on?" Beckett cried.

"He's not dead, sweetie. When I touched his wrist, he was burning up and I noticed the faintest pulse I have ever felt."

Beckett's eyes widened. "He, he's… alive?"

"Yes, he's alive, honey, and we're going to do everything we can to make him stay that way."

_He was going to make it. _

"This is a really bad gash in his head," the EMT said as he examined the wound on the left side of Castle's forehead. He cleaned it off as best as he could and put some steri-strips on it to keep it as closed as he could until they got to the hospital.

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><p>As soon as they pulled up to the hospital, Beckett, Lanie, and the EMT jumped out of the ambulance, loaded the gurney out, and wheeled Castle inside quickly. The EMT took him into the nearest operating room. As Beckett and Lanie tried to run into the operating room after him, a nurse stopped them.<p>

"Sorry, but no unauthorized personnel past this point," the middle-aged woman said with a smile.

"No please, you have to let me in there. That's my fiancé and I need to make sure he's okay. _Please_," Beckett argued as she tried to push past the woman.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but we can't let anyone but doctors, nurses, and patients inside the operating rooms," the nurse replied.

"I'm a doctor," Lanie said as she flashed her badge at the nurse. "You can let me in."

"Sorry Dr. Parish, but I can't. Only_ our_ doctors are allowed. You ladies can have a seat in the waiting area to your right. Can I get you anything?"

"No," Beckett scoffed bitterly as she walked over to plop down in one of the chairs. She put her elbows on her knees and rested her head in her hands. As she started to cry for what felt like the thousandth time that day, she felt a comforting hand of her best friend rest on her back.

"He's going to be okay, sweetie, I promise."

"I just feel so helpless," Beckett said as she looked up at her best friend with watery eyes. "I'm always the one helping others, and I love that because it's part of my job. I hate sitting around, watching and waiting as others do the work. This is all my fault, Lanie. If I hadn't let Castle and Ryan go into the building, none of this ever would've happened."

"You stop right there, Kate Beckett," Lanie said sternly. "This is _not_ your fault. Hell, the only person whose fault this is is the arsonist's. He's the bastard that put the explosives in the building, and he's the one that injured Castle and Ryan, _not you_."

"I know, but-"

"No buts," Lanie cut her off. "This is not your fault! How many times do I have to tell you that before you believe me?"

"A million," Beckett replied with a sad smile.

Lanie chuckled and wrapped her in a tight hug. "He's going to be okay, honey. I know he is. Castle's a fighter; not only for himself, but for you. He's not going to leave you if he can do something about it."

"Kate!"

The two women broke from their embrace to see Martha and Alexis running toward them. The detective and medical examiner were barraged with questions by the red heads, asking where Castle was, if he was okay, and if he was going to make it.

"He's in really bad shape, but he's alive," Lanie said. "He's in surgery right now. We should know more in a little bit."

* * *

><p>After about three hours, a tall stocky man in scrubs approached the four women.<p>

"Family of Richard Castle?" he announced to the waiting room.

Immediately, Beckett perked up. "Yes, that's us!" she said as she waved at him.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Carbondale," he said with a warm smile as he shook all of their hands.

"I'm Kate, his fiancée. This is his mother Martha, his daughter Alexis, and my friend Lanie," she said as she gestured to the rest of the women around her.

"Nice to meet you all. I just wanted to come out and tell you that Richard is out of surgery. He had a lot of issues that we needed to take care of, but I think he's going to be okay. We cleaned and closed the head wound as best as we could, but we need to watch it closely for any signs of serious infection. The worst issue he has is his lungs and his brain."

Beckett's breath hitched when she heard the word "brain".

"Richard has a very concerning amount of ash and unclean air in his lungs, as you can imagine. We are keeping him on oxygen to circulate the dirty oxygen and carbon monoxide out of his lungs. Also, his brain suffered from the fall, which is also most likely how he got the gash in his head. He has an extreme concussion and his brain is swollen. We are keeping his head elevated to drain excess cerebrospinal fluid and we are monitoring it closely to make sure that nothing too serious comes from this. The next seventy-two hours are crucial for Richard. As long as things start to look better and nothing changes for the worse, he will be just fine."

"Thank you so much, Doctor," Martha said as all of the women became teary-eyed with happiness for the first time that day.

"When can we see him?" Beckett asked.

"They are moving him to the intensive care unit right now, so as soon as he's settled, I'll have a nurse come and get you to bring you to him," Dr. Carbondale said.

Lanie decided to leave and check on Ryan, Jenny, and Sarah Grace. She told Beckett to keep her updated and to call if they needed anything at all. After she left, Martha went to the café to get coffee for the ladies as they waited to see Castle.

Beckett tapped her foot nervously as she thought about how lucky Castle really was. He had basically come back from the dead. How is that even possible?

Maybe there really was such a thing as magic. Castle had taught her that, after all.

* * *

><p>"Family of Richard Castle?" a nurse announced as she walked into the waiting room, just as Martha was coming back.<p>

"Yes, that's us!" Beckett said as she felt a bit of déjà vu.

"Richard is settled if you'd like to see him," the young, blonde nurse smiled.

They followed the nurse and went up to the fourth floor. She led them threw a few hallways and then stopped outside the ICU doors.

"The ICU policy is that we can only have one visitor in the room at a time. The other two of you can wait in the waiting room right here," she said as she pointed to a room on their left.

"You go, Katherine," Martha said as she put a hand on her future daughter-in-law's shoulder. Alexis smiled and nodded in agreement. Beckett thanked them and hugged them both, and then followed the nurse to Castle's room. She let her in and closed the door behind her.

Beckett walked to the bed slowly, letting a tear fall as she saw the love of her life. He looked so pale and fragile with all of the tubes, wires, and IV's attached to him. She pushed the hair out of his face that had fallen and she moved the lone chair in the room to the side of the bed. She gently took his hand in hers.

"God, Rick, I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry," she cried. "I never meant for this to happen to you, babe. Please just wake up and tell me that you love me because I love _you_ with every fiber of my being. I love you so much, Rick, _please_."

Like a miracle, she felt his hand squeeze hers and his eyes fluttered open. He squinted against the light and she shot up from her seat, moving closer to him. He looked around a little dazed and confused, until he saw her.

"Rick?" she said, barely audibly.

He looked at her for a second before his brows furrowed in confusion.

"Who are you?" he rasped.

Her heart sank in her chest.

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><p><strong>*goes and hides in the corner*<strong>

**TO BE CONTINUED. **

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	16. Chapter 15

**So apparently, all of the medical stuff I wrote in the last chapter was wrong, so I'm sorry about that! Usually, I would do extensive research and really try to get everything as close to correct as possible, but I've been writing while on the road and haven't gotten the time to research. **

**I'd like to give a shout out to CassieCastle47 because despite the reviews she leaves me, she really does love me. (;**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

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><p><em>Beckett walked to the bed slowly, letting a tear fall as she saw the love of her life. He looked so pale and fragile with all of the tubes, wires, and IV's attached to him. She pushed the hair out of his face that had fallen and she moved the lone chair in the room to the side of the bed. She gently took his hand in hers.<em>

_"God, Rick, I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry," she cried. "I never meant for this to happen to you, babe. Please just wake up and tell me that you love me because I love you with every fiber of my being. I love you so much, Rick, please."_

_Like a miracle, she felt his hand squeeze hers and his eyes fluttered open. He squinted against the light and she shot up from her seat, moving closer to him. He looked around a little dazed and confused, until he saw her._

_"Rick?" she said, barely audibly._

_He looked at her for a second before his brows furrowed in confusion._

_"Who are you?" he rasped._

_Her heart sank in her chest._

"Do you really not know who I am?" she asked timidly.

"Uh, no," he said as he looked at her with confusion.

"It's me, Kate. Your fiancé," she said, holding the tears back.

He looked at her for a moment, and then busted out laughing.

Now she was confused.

"I can't believe you fell for that!" he said as he laughed, but then started to choke and gasp for air. She placed her hand on his shoulder and told him to breathe, and after a few minutes, he calmed down.

"Ugh, that was painful," he remarked.

"It's okay, babe. But hold on just a second!" she said as she poked his arm.

"Ow! What was that for?" he said, gripping his arm with his other hand.

"For making me believe that you didn't know who I was! After all we've been through today, you played the amnesia game on me?"

"I'm sorry but I couldn't help myself!"

"That was not cool," she said as she turned away from him.

"But you love me," he said as he grabbed her hand, twining their fingers.

"It's true, I do," she said as she smiled and turned back to him. She caressed his cheek and then leaned in and kissed him softly. He hummed against her lips, so she kissed him again more passionately. She moaned softly when she felt his tongue lave against her bottom lip, so she opened her mouth to let it slip inside.

He put all of his love into the kiss, making sure she knew just how happy he was to be there with her. As they were kissing, he felt something wet on his cheek. It was a tear.

"Kate," he said lovingly as they barely pulled away, just enough for their lips to part.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I just can't stop thinking about how I almost lost you. I was just so ready to believe that you were never going to come back to me and I was never going to move on. You're the only man I've ever loved, Rick, and you just make me so happy. I was-"

He silenced her with another kiss.

"Stop," he said when he pulled away. "Stop thinking like this, okay? I made it, and I'm here with you. I'm never going to leave you, Kate. I promise."

"I love you so much," she choked out behind more tears.

"Oh Kate, I love you too. Always."

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><p><strong>I ended it happily for all you angst haters out there. I figured that I put you all through enough, right?<strong>

**Just the epilogue left! **

**Review?(: **


	17. Epilogue

**When I started this story in January, I never thought it would amount to what it has. I went through hell for this story, with all the angst and research I had to do to get it just right. I know a lot of people didn't really like my approach to it, but this is the most proud I've ever been of any one of my stories. Thank you to everyone who has put up with this roller coaster ride of a fanfic. I love you all! **

**Send me ideas for my next story! (:**

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><p>SEVEN MONTHS LATER<p>

"This guy is dangerous. We don't know really know what he's doing inside the building, but we do know that he's there. Castle and I will go to the building, you guys go to his apartment and look for any evidence or information that he left here. He's an arsonist, so he has to have something in his apartment. He can't have it all in the building, in case someone found it and he wanted to blow it," Beckett said.

"Got it," Esposito and Ryan said as they grabbed their jackets and headed to the elevator. Castle and Beckett were in tow, shrugging into their jackets as they walked.

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><p>Beckett drove with ease but also a bit of apprehension. This was their first arson homicide that they had worked since the incident with Ryan and Castle. Her emotions from that day were still so raw, and she didn't want her husband to work this case, but he insisted. He wanted to be there. Finally, after hours of arguments over it, she gave in.<p>

As they pulled up to the building, Beckett and Castle stepped out of the car and grabbed their vests from the trunk. As Castle started to put his on, Beckett grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Don't come in with me. Stay in the car."

"Kate, I thought we talked about this. It's fine; I'm fine. You can't go in there alone. You need backup."

"Castle, will you just appease me? Just stay in the car, _please_?" she pleaded with him.

"Alright, fine. But only because you said please," he said with a half-smirk, trying to hide his annoyance and slight anger.

"Thank you. I love you," she said as she clicked the last buckle on her vest.

"I love you, too, Mrs. Castle," he said as he pulled her to him for a quick peck on the lips.

"Castle, it's been a two months since we got married. You'll never stop calling me Mrs. Castle, will you?"

"I won't stop saying it until the day I die," he smiled as he looked at her lovingly.

She smiled back and blushed slightly. This crazy, incredible man kept her on her toes and showed her the true depths of his love every day. He continued to amaze her every second, and she knew that she really was the luckiest woman alive.

Castle got back in the car as Beckett went into the building. He hated not going with her, but he did have to admit that he did feel better being outside rather than inside, considering what happened last time.

* * *

><p>Beckett stealthily moved through the building with her gun cocked and her senses on high alert. She was ready for anything that could happen at a moment's notice. She didn't like going in without Castle, but she felt better to know he was outside, out of harm's way.<p>

When she made her way into the room that they had all assumed was the arsonist's office and lair, she yelled, "NYPD, anyone here?"

She was met with her own echo, and then silence.

"Hello?" she yelled.

Again, silence.

She sighed and put her gun down on one of the tables as she looked around at the equipment and notes that covered the several tables in the lair. She found information on different buildings in New York and order forms for equipment and explosives.

On one of the tables, she found at least fifty bricks of C4. This man was a high level arsonist. He really knew how to operate.

Suddenly, she heard a low rumble and felt the ground shake. The rumble became louder and the ground started to move under her. She knew something wasn't right, so she grabbed her gun and sprinted out of the room. She ran down the hallway towards the stairwell door. When she was three steps away from the door, the ground gave way under her feet. Everything happened so quickly that she didn't really have time to process the fact that she fell two stories through smoke and erupting flames.

* * *

><p>Castle was sitting in the car, scrolling through twitter, waiting for Beckett. His eyes perked up when he heard a rumbling noise, and he saw smoke coming through several of the windows on the third floor of the building. He got out of the car and started to run toward the building, but was stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a few of the windows shatter. He turned around and ran straight toward the car, diving back in and closing the door as the building exploded.<p>

He ducked and covered as he heard the loudest boom he had ever heard, and immediately he felt the heat and heard the rubble and debris hit the side of the squad car.

His only thoughts consisted of Kate and her well-being. She was definitely still inside the building, and immediate worry settled in his stomach. His hands were shaking and his breathing was shallow. He fished his phone out of his pocket and immediately pressed 3 on his speed dial for Esposito.

Was she in the blast point room? Did she know what was happening? Did she get seriously hurt? Was she alive?

God, is this how she felt when he was in the building with Ryan? Every worst case scenario came to his mind as he waited for Esposito to answer.

"Yo Castle, what's up?" Esposito answered.

"Esposito! The building exploded! Beckett's inside, she, god I don't know if she's alive but she needs to be helped! Call the fire department!" Castle yelled, rambling quickly.

"What?" Esposito yelled. "Where are you right now?"

"I'm in the car. Beckett didn't want me to go in. Please Sito, _help_!" Castle yelled frantically.

"Sit tight, bro. Ryan just called the fire department. We'll be there ASAP."

Castle hung up with Esposito and sat there numbly. He didn't know what to do. He desperately wanted to go in there after her, but he couldn't put both of their lives at risk, especially because he didn't know where she was in the building.

* * *

><p>It felt like an eternity before the fire department and Ryan and Esposito showed up. When they ran up to the car, they found Castle sitting there with his eyes wide, staring off into the distance. He looked like a statue.<p>

"Castle!" Ryan said as he shook the writer's shoulder.

"Huh?" he said as he broke out of his smoke-filled, death-filled reverie.

"Let's go!" Ryan said as they pulled him out of the car.

The fire rescue team talked to Castle about what he knew as far as Beckett's location and what caused the explosion. Unfortunately, Castle didn't know much, and he couldn't get ahold of Beckett, so the fire rescue team started to develop a plan of going in to rescue her.

* * *

><p>Her eyes opened slowly and she immediately felt the intense heat around her. She blinked rapidly as she tried to focus. Once she did, her heart pounded in her chest. She was in one of the basement rooms. It was engulfed in flames, but she could see the stairwell out of the corner of her eye. There were flames around it, but it was a straight, clear shot through the door from where she was.<p>

She sat up and was surprised that she had a few aches, pains, cuts, and scrapes, but nothing too severe. She stood and ran right to the stairwell. She opened the door quickly and made her way up the stairs as quickly as possible. When she reached the next floor, she opened the door and saw that she was still on one of the lower levels. She made her way up the stairs again to the next floor, and when she opened the door, she was met with flames right in front of her. She could see the door she came in from the outside through the flames, so she knew she was on the main floor. She stood and thought for a second. She ran up the stairs to the second floor of the building and stepped out on the floor. There was a huge hole in the floor, so she could see the first floor below. There was an area where there were no flames that connected right to the door that led outside. She stood there thinking once again.

Then, she jumped. She jumped right for the area.

She landed painfully and rolled, but she couldn't stand. She gripped her leg as she screamed in pain. She had fallen right on it and shattered it.

She looked up to see that the door was only three feet away. She mustered all of the strength she could, and she crawled the rest of the way to the door, yelping as her injured leg dragged with her.

When she reached the door after what felt like an eternity, she pushed the door and opened it far enough for her to shimmy her body through. When she breathed in the fresh air and felt the concrete of the sidewalk under her, she stopped.

* * *

><p>"We need to make sure that we enter at this door, because otherwise we'll be blocked by the fire," the fire chief said.<p>

Castle was half-listening to the plan, but the other half of his mind was thinking about Kate. He was so scared for her; he just wanted her to be okay.

The opening of the front door of the building caught his eye, and then he saw her.

_Kate_.

He saw her crawl and then stop as soon as she came out of the building. He immediately ran to her.

Ryan, Esposito, and the rest of the squad saw what was happening, so they followed after him. Castle scooped her up in his arms and her eyes opened slowly.

"Castle?" she choked out.

"I'm here, Kate. It's okay. You're okay," he said as a tear slipped down his cheek.

"Castle, I'm sorry. I never should've gone in alone," she rasped as she wiped his tear.

"I know, Kate, I know. We're here now, together. It's okay."

"Together," she repeated with a smile.

"From now on, we do everything together. Deal?" he said as he held her.

"Deal," she smiled.

He kissed her with all the love he could muster and she responded in kind. She cupped his cheek and they stood there, kissing like new lovers, letting the world know that no matter what happens in their lives, they will do everything together.

_Together. _

_Always._

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you to everyone who has read, followed, favorited, and supported this story. It is now finished. <strong>

**Review?(: **


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